


Call The Dead A Bluff (Fransykes)

by Asking4AHorizon



Category: Bring Me The Horizon, You Me At Six
Genre: Blood and Gore, Blood and Violence, Emotionally Repressed, Inspired By Tumblr, M/M, Murder Husbands, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, So Wrong It's Right, Tags Are Hard, Writers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 03:20:36
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29818638
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Asking4AHorizon/pseuds/Asking4AHorizon
Summary: Call Joshua a weirdo but there's beauty in fright. There's beauty in pain and despair, there's beauty in sorrow and disgust. If, of course, they're emotions caused by the words Joshua put together.Joshua is a writer that takes pride in the emotions his words can cause in one. Angst is his forte, especially the twists and turns his stories can take.But there's a problem. He writes terror books. And his extremely descriptive scenarios got him into some big trouble.
Relationships: Dan Flint/Chris Miller, Josh Franceschi/Oliver Sykes
Kudos: 1





	1. Chapter 1

Joshua James Alphonse Franceschi.

Where should I even begin?

He was an odd man with an odd mind that many found either absolutely brilliant or absolutely morbid. And that man managed to be even more complex than his characters, even more confusing and curiosity-inducing because there was just so much and so little and too much and too little. He was an open book whose pages were either ripped or filled with scramblings and drawings that bored teenagers usually do in class.

As a writer, he took pride in that. He strived to be like that. He wanted to be seen with curiosity and amazement and perhaps fear or something lightly close to it. He wanted to have his perception as a wild variant that simply didn't fit in the equation because it was quite amusing to watch people try to solve it but ended up getting a headache instead.

He wanted his true self to stay unknown not just for fun, however. He was afraid of being known, of getting stripped bare to someone with no walls or ways to deflect it off. Letting people in was scary, knowing that someone could see right through you and your words was scarier.

Though, Joshua could be quite of a hypocrite when it came to this subject. He was fascinated by people and their mannerisms. Their passions and fears, their amazement and horrors. The putrid and the pure inside of human beings that so often clashed against each was what made his eyes sparkle and flicker with intensity and interest. Being the one to watch people was quite of a show for Joshua.

Don't get it wrong, Joshua wasn't a stalker who crossed boundaries. He was your normal level of stalker who would look someone up and look a little on their social media but got bored really fast and who sometimes would watch someone from afar when they weren't looking. Things we all do sometimes without realising and really, with no second intentions. He just liked to know people and who they truly were when there were no eyes on them. And he didn't really stay on a person for too long because Joshua had some sort of gift over knowing people and their inners. He could see the genuine with a distinction that no one else around him seemed to see. Except, maybe, from his mother. A single glance and she knew who was a morally good person and who was not and that was a thing that Joshua got from her but with a certain sharpness added up.

And Joshua either missed the people who could see the good and the bad in other people or they simply were careless about that. Or maybe he was just crazy. Yeah, that was something that was a big possibility in his mind. But he wasn't crazy, he wasn't a weirdo as he felt, he wasn't a psycho as they used to say. He wasn't, no, not at all.

At least not when he was with Oliver.

Oliver was also an odd man with an odd mind and odd mannerisms. But the difference between him and Joshua was that the brilliance and morbid were interviewed together like red and blue form purple. Unlike Joshua, Oliver's madness and geniality were like laced fingers whose skin and flesh just so happened to melt together and blend as the bones tightened and clutched and fused as one. And maybe that's what made Joshua's eyes linger. Maybe that's what made his eyes twinkle brighter than the sun, that's what made him read and read nonstop everything possible to know about that man on the internet and in a metaphorical instance. Maybe it was the fact that he knew that Oliver knew he was watching him, for Oliver watched him too. The way they picked at each other with hungry curious eyes that starved to know, eyes who could see through and within, eyes that stripped their differences from the world so that they were equal to themselves.

And Joshua thought about him for a long time before he dared to be more than a shadow that just happened to be in the spotlight. And all thanks to Max, too, who was also the reason they met.

"He took interest in you," Max had murmured, elbowing him lightly upon realising Joshua's sneaky eyes flickering yet again over the figure that Joshua so desperately wanted to understand. "You should talk to him."

That had been the third time their paths had crossed but both refrained to make them truly cross. The third get-together that Max invited them after a conversation with some of their other mutual friends who also happened to notice the flickering gazes and wondering faces. Friends that realised that there was so much in common over the two weird guys who were always keeping to themselves but went out enough to make themselves known, enough to fit in. Friends that realised that by now the studying glances — none of them were spared of those stares the first time they met Joshua and Oliver, no one that stood out as a possible acquaintance really was — should have worn out, that the curiosity should have already ended. But those glances kept getting longer and longer and every time they ended up crossing they only seemed closer to the edge of their seat.

And that was unusual. 

So of course, they were curious themselves about the outcome. That and it was a little awkward to watch although intriguing.

Joshua truly did consider Max's words. He truly stopped and looked at Oliver yet once more and that time their eyes happened to meet and Joshua had to stop himself from tilting his head because there was so much, too much, not enough, more, further things to know and Joshua _needed_ to know, needed to understand why Oliver was simply so unreadable yet so open and why he felt almost like a reflection of himself and why that man stood out like nothing else, like no one else.

But no. Joshua didn't get up, didn't walk up to him, didn't lean close to that man without breaking eye contact, didn't bring everyone's attention to them as he whispered "What's going on inside your head? What do you think about? Who are you and what do you want in life, from our friends, from _me_?" And then he'd lean closer, eyes even more bright with something alongside curiosity and confusion as he said even more silently than before a "Why can't I see you?" Just to get an intrigued smirk and a slight lean in, Oliver's stare boring right through Joshua as he whispered a "Come and figure out, lose yourself in the process. Let me show you how far a man can go and then let me take you further into the lunacy. Let me take everything and more from you. Let me drive you mad." And Oliver would lean closer to the point where Joshua would feel his light breath against his face, would see every detail of his face, every perfect imperfection, every pore, every line, every mole. Joshua would see his reflection within those eyes and he would see his reflection inside that mind as Oliver let out a breathy "And then let me discover you too."

But that didn't happen, that wasn't the right scenario to display for their entertainment, that wasn't safe enough. Joshua only sent him a tight-lipped smile and received a nod with a beam back.

He needed to know. Because it was almost as if he could see that same scenario playing out in Oliver's head and Oliver would see that Joshua too had imagined it and then they both would stare again for longer and intenser seconds.

But no, that wasn't their time. That wasn't their start, that wasn't how the story began.

It was in a coffee shop. With every cliche possible to happen, their story began on a goddamn coffee shop. Funnily so.

Once again was Max present, on a Saturday, bouncing on his heels for having Joshua's entire weekly schedule memorised. Josh swore to everything out there that that man had a photographic memory but okay. And he had a companion right beside him, listening to his blabs about this new show he began as they ordered their coffee. The smell lingering on the air was the best. It was warm, soothing, welcoming. Oliver had always loved the smell of coffee.

Oliver listened quietly as always, letting out a few remarks here and there and a small smile and nod every now and then. And Joshua hadn't realised them yet, was too engrossed on his laptop, finally out of this stupidly long mental block, letting the words flow through his fingers with quick movements on the keyboard, not even blinking. Max had already spotted him on the corner but pretended to be oblivious, hoping either of them would notice the presence of the other because Max was the matchmaker.

Oliver was the first one to notice when he looked around for somewhere they could sit. His eyes lingered for two, three seconds as Joshua faced the screen with such intent that he seemed locked in a trance. Oliver's eyes flickered to Max immediately after that and Max had such an innocent face but Oliver knew, studied him, learned what every movement meant and Max slightly too raised eyebrows as he looked at him with a beam said it all.

Oliver only quirked his brow. Max knew he had been caught already so he just shrugged, getting the coffee as the lady called their names. Before Oliver could do anything Max was hopping up to Josh's corner table and sitting in front of him with an excited greeting. Oliver didn't even realise that he was standing there, staring, drinking every emotion — or the lack of — as Joshua blinked twice, three times, staring at Max a little too blankly. Oliver slowly brought his iced coffee to his lips as he watched with a tilted head. 

Joshua's reaction wasn't instantly as many others would have. Over seeing a friend who's dear to you, you get excited, your smile is involuntary, perhaps even a nod towards the said friend. But it was almost as if that reaction wasn't natural of Joshua's. Of course, he pursed his lips into a beam and made the corner of his eyes crinkle but that look seemed purely... Fabricated. Oliver knew, he too had to master upon the blending in. And Max was waving at him and that brought his attention away from Joshua all the same it brought Joshua's attention to him.

And their eyes were meeting again and they were using the same politeness that Oliver truly couldn't be bothered to understand, meanwhile Josh always tried to comprehend but ended up getting a headache every time. But it was almost as if they knew. Joshua's eyes lingered as did Oliver's. Then Oliver was sitting beside Max, placing his cup on the table and mindlessly twirling his straw around, his eyes nonchalantly moving around the shop but keeping Joshua on the corner of his vision. No, he had to watch Joshua. He's read one of his books thanks to Daniel, he knows a part of that man's soul despite him keeping all the rest to himself.

He knew. He understood.

Max told Joshua about the new show he was watching as well and it was like Oliver couldn't take his eyes off of Joshua.

The sunlight beamed down on him, half of his curly messy hair appearing a lighter colour, his left eye looking brighter, his cheeks with a light blush freckled over. Joshua looked truly ehtereal. His eyes were trained into Max enough so that he seemed interested. With nods and small smiles and frowns here and there as Max told just the quick version of the entire thing but Oliver could see the carelessness. Or maybe he just imagined, maybe truly was paying attention, maybe Oliver was just an asshole. Max turned to Oliver.

"Yes, yes now let me go because I still have many episodes to watch," Max grinned. Oliver's eyes were trained on the table. He saw Joshua's mask falling off as his lips curled in distaste lightly.

Maybe Joshua was an asshole too. Oliver grinned. 

"Of course," Oliver said, sliding off the booth. Max bid them goodbye and patted Oliver's shoulder, getting a nod from Oliver and a small smile before he left the store. Oliver sat back down on the booth. 

He truly couldn't get his eyes off of Joshua.

Joshua noticed, of course he did. He looked right back at him, eyes moving down to Oliver's chest then back to his eyes, analysing his instance quickly.

"So," Oliver said, leaning back and taking another sip from his coffee. "Writing something? A new book on the way or a sequel?"

Joshua tipped his chin up for a second before glancing at his laptop. He tsked, tilting his head a little.

"I don't do sequels," Joshua smiled and raised his eyebrows once before relaxing his face. It seemed so damn natural. Oliver was impressed.

"Really?" Oliver's eyebrows twitched. "I thought I Don't Mind would have some sort of continuation."

Joshua stopped for a second as Oliver grinned at him. He raised his eyebrows. The surprise on Joshua's features was genuine.

"You've read I Don't Mind?"

It was Oliver's turn to tsk.

"You're more well known than you think, Franceschi."

Joshua tilted his head, staring at Oliver.

"Well..." He cleared his throat. "Thank you, I guess. But no, no sequels."

Oliver hummed. "That's mean of you. I bet you let many people heartbroken with that one."

Joshua chuckled. "Good. Haunting people is my hobby."

Oliver traced his bottom lip with his tongue. "Is it, now?" Oliver leaned forward with a curl on his lips and interest clear on his eyes. Intense curiosity. Joshua stopped again, looked at his instance one more time, tilted his head.

A smirk formed on his lips.

"It is," Joshua said, mirroring Oliver's look, lips parted, upper teeth visible, one side of his lips curled up. Icy eyes. Daring stare. Full of meaning.

Oliver cackled.

"Incredible," Oliver murmured, crossing his arms and bringing one hand to his lips. He picked at the skin of his bottom lip. Joshua blinked slowly, eyes falling back onto the computer, lips still curled slightly.

"Thanks," Josh said. "I try to be."

Oliver hummed. Placed his palms down on the table.

"Tainted Blood is also amazing."

Joshua smiled wide, eyes staying on the screen but occasionally flickering to Oliver.

"I'm glad you like it. Your type of books?"

"Yeah. But that one has to be my favourite. How can you be so precise with it all? You experienced it all first hand?"

And Joshua laughed, covering his mouth with his hand as he looked up at Oliver with amusement.

"Yes, I very much experienced vampires and demons and angels."

Oliver inwardly wrinkled his nose. He chuckled.

"No, I mean. You know, the part they cut off the wings is just so..." Oliver's eyes were twinkling. "Certain. How did you get that scene to be so right?"

Joshua looked at his coffee as he brought it to his lips. His eyes flickered back into Oliver's.

"My friend's a butcher."

Oliver stopped. He backtracked. A slow blink.

"Oh, right," he nodded with a smile. The disappointment was easy to hide. Perhaps Joshua and he weren't as alike as he thought they were.

But that didn't change the fact that Joshua's head created all of those scenarios. Maybe Joshua just found a way to control it, found a way to keep it quiet enough as he passed it all down to the paper. Oliver took another gulp. He looked outside as people walked by. He didn't feel nearly as interested as he was from the start. He planned on leaving soon now, just wanted to finish his coffee first but he wasn't about to waste it all by gulping it down in a second. No, he'd appreciate it.

Joshua let out a frustrated sigh. Oliver looked back at him.

"You alright?"

Josh glanced at him before shrugging with tight lips.

"Can't get this one scene right no matter how many times I try."

"You want help?"

"Sure," Joshua shrugged again, turning the laptop to face Oliver. Oliver pushed his coffee away as he pulled the laptop towards him, letting out a small sigh. But he was quick to take that sigh back as soon as he finished the first line. His lips parted and his eyes sparkled all over again as he read every line that followed along until the end. His eyes flickered back to Joshua. He was tilting his cup far back, Adam's apple bobbing underneath his skin with every swallow. Joshua put the empty cup on the table with a heavy sigh, scratching his scruff before looking back at Oliver.

"It's perfect," Oliver murmured. Josh beamed.

"Thanks but it feels too bland."

Bland? Bland??? That man wrote a masterpiece and called it bland? Oliver bit the inside of his mouth.

"It's not bland. But," Oliver shrugged. "You can add more stuff to your scenario. Usually getting stabbed on the artery is... Messy. Make her pull out the knife. Gonna be messier."

"The blood would cover her entirely," Josh murmured, eyes flickering to the back of his laptop. "Make her face dirty with it and her clothes and the carpet would have more droplets than it did before and maybe if I make it get on the couch, too, since she would take the knife out as soon as she stabbed him so the blood would fly even farther. But," Josh's eyes twinkled. "If she stabbed him more than once, maybe somewhere else, on the chest, targeted attacks..."

Oliver bit his lip.

"Perfect," He whispered to himself, pushing the laptop back towards Josh. It made him snap out of the trance he was, blinking several times before quickly deleting things and rewriting the scene.

Oliver would look away for seconds but he truly couldn't keep his eyes off of Joshua.

Amazing.

There was just something about the way that Joshua portrayed human's fragility that got to Oliver. He made things sound so easy but not too easy, made humans seem like glass and fuck, they are like glass. He understood it, of course, but he was never able to put it into words, not the way Joshua did. It was a perfect thing because Oliver loved to read and Joshua wrote things beautifully.

Their start was perfect. Truly so. Joshua remembered it all with vivid detail as time passed by, recreating the scenario differently but keeping the original always stored safely on his head, typing everything down with a small fond smile, leaning back on his wooden chair, the lights turned off as the moon gently peeked through the window. Oliver would be back soon enough to read over their life story alongside Joshua. But for that Josh needed to write.

His newest book was on the way. His last book. His autobiography.

A book that told the death of Joshua James Alphonse Franceschi and the death of Oliver Scott Sykes.

A book about desires and confusion and feelings and the lack of, a book about being alive and not living, a book about excitement and panic, joy and silence, games and rivalries. A book about emptiness and fulfilment.

A book about rebirth.


	2. Chapter 2

The soft sound of Joshua's fingers dancing through the keyboard was the only thing to fill the room. His glasses rested on his face imperceptibly, his eyes flickering between his hands and the screen. He was completely still besides that. It was something that people pointed out at times, how he looked like an android whenever he wrote. Joshua never took it seriously but now he realised that, yeah, he wasn't a hundred per cent human. The edge of his lip twitched. 

Something he loved about writing was the way it sucked him into another world. Loved the way his universes were within his reach, were on his hands so he could reshape and modify whatever he wanted to, he could erase everything and play it out again, over and over, make everything be the way he wanted it to be because Joshua was a god. He loved writing because he had all the control.

Funnily enough, writing took him to the clouds but it was what grounded him. Writing was the only thing that made sense.

Sometimes.

You see, Joshua... Joshua didn't know what was happening. Ever. He was just there, most of the time. Of course, he had his moments of rage, of happiness, of sadness. Faint moments. But again, for the most time, he didn't mind just existing. He was there and that was alright with him. But other times Joshua longed for contentment. Longed for empathy. Longed for care within himself. He longed to be a person that everyone else seemed to be around him. Max was highly empathetic. He'd feel happy for someone's achievements. Lee. He felt sadness for other's loss. Matt, both of them. They'd feel rage when someone suffered injustice. All of them felt for others. Joshua, though? He liked to make other people believe he could be empathetic. He liked to make people feel like he cared. He liked to be the nice guy that's chill about everything, that makes sure everyone's having a good time. 

Joshua simply couldn't give a fuck about anyone else but himself.

Call him selfish, call him an asshole, call him whatever you want. But keep in mind that he didn't choose this. He didn't pick the emptiness, didn't pick the void inside his soul when it came to others. He didn't decide one day that he would be emotionless. But not always, not really, he was fine. He had quick happy moments, quick sad moments, quick angry moments, quick scared moments. Quick, quick, so quick he couldn't grasp them, so fast it was gone in a blink, so light that it would leave before Joshua could feel.

He fucking hated it.

But writing changed that. Writing put him on the skin of the normal people he created, writing made him feel for them, writing made him someone else. Writing made him be who he wanted to be even if just for a second. Writing was the faint light Joshua got on the end of the tunnel after years, decades in the dark. Because Joshua was so blind, he couldn't see, he stumbled on his own damn feet in that silent room he was put on all by himself. Writing gave him a direction. Writing and reading and breathing in and out other realities that only happened inside his head.

Maybe that's why he was always inside his mind. Maybe that's why his friends would always tease him for being with his head in the clouds, maybe that's why being alone was so freeing. Because there he didn't have to act excited or sorry for someone when he couldn't give a fuck about them. Being alone allowed Joshua to rest down and breathe in, shut his eyes and feel.

But lately being alone was... Lonely. Living in his one-stored house with nothing and no one but himself wasn't feeling much like a little bubble with all the oxygen in the world. And Joshua should be panicking because his bubble popped and the oxygen was mixing with the toxic gas that surrounded him and now Joshua was fated to suffer a suffocating death.

Joshua had nowhere else to breathe. Nowhere else to go. Nothing else to feel.

But he could always write, always have a quick whiff of the toxic air that other people seemed to either adore or despise - Joshua couldn't understand those people. Why would they hate feeling? Why would they despise the only thing that made them human? - But that seemed to become all he had. Joshua let out a sigh.

Suffocating in silence. How fun.

The doorbell rang and Joshua lifted his head, blinking twice, breathing in deeply before scratching his neck with a harsh exhale. He got up, turned the light off, walked to the door, sighing a long, exasperated "Okay, I'm coming damnit." as the bell rang again. Joshua hid his annoyance the most he could as he opened the door.

Funnily enough, Joshua didn't feel empathy much. But he did feel for himself. Frustration, impatience, confusion, were the most common feelings he had. He didn't exactly cherish them but the fact that they were there made him comfortable enough.

Maybe he wasn't a freak. Not completely.

Josh blinked. The frustration left, impatience came in. Joshua beamed.

"Oliver, what brings you here today?"

Joshua licked his lips, still beaming, clutching the door-frame. Whilst being alone was turning into a choke-hold, being in someone else's presence was far worse. Oliver grinned.

"Was passing by, decided to check on you."

And Oliver was offering Joshua the bouquet he held. Joshua blinked again. Took them with his permanent beam - that wasn't necessarily a good thing. Gazed at Oliver with his eyebrows quirked.

"That's thoughtful of you, thank you," Josh spoke kindly.

"Yes, yes," Oliver tilted his head. "Can I come in?"

Joshua's beam stretched.

"Ah, man, I'm a little busy right now," Joshua said with a disappointed frown. "Maybe some other day?"

"Oh? What are you doing?"

"Writing."

"Yeah? What are you writing? Still the same book?"

"Yep," Josh nodded, drumming his fingers on the door, his clutch on the flowers tightening.

"Can I see what you have so far?"

Joshua swallowed hard. Took a deep silent breath.

"Uh, sure," Joshua nodded, stepping back with the tightest grip on the door. Oliver smiled.

"Good, thank you," Oliver said, stepping inside. Josh scratched his collarbones a little too aggressively. Oliver's eyes were immediately darting around Joshua's house. Joshua tensed up. He was exposed. He truly couldn't keep the glare off his face for a second, clenching his jaw hard, lungs running out of air for a second. But he looked away, distracted himself with locking the door.

Joshua hated being exposed.

"You're quite neat, hm?" Oliver turned himself to look at Josh, who immediately beamed. Josh let out a small laugh.

"I prefer this way."

"Oh, I understand," Oliver nodded. "I hate when my place's a mess."

"Yep."

Oliver stared at Josh for a bit before his face dissolved on a smile.

"Well?"

"Right," Josh nodded. "You can wait here."

And with much more reluctance than Josh let to be apparent, he was leaving the room, leaving the flowers on the kitchen table before he went to his office room, so fucking thankful for getting a laptop instead of a computer. He was quick to check if he had anything open that shouldn't be open, anything that told too much about him and then he was walking fast back to the living room, relaxing slightly upon seeing that Oliver was just on the couch, still inspecting every corner of Josh's place. Joshua was oddly uncomfortable. He was never like this with his friends. Maybe it was because Oliver was Oliver and that by itself was nerve-wracking enough. Josh cleared his throat, beaming.

"Here, you can take a look. I haven't gotten much on this chapter yet but I've got something," Josh chuckled. Oliver grinned.

"Oh, I bet it's amazing already."

Josh wrinkled his nose with a laugh.

"Thank you."

The moment Oliver focused on the screen Joshua was letting out a silent breath. His eyes scanned the room around quickly, seeing if anything was out of place. The house was spotless. Joshua shut his eyes for a second before deciding to look back at Oliver.

Oliver was staring at him with an extremely calculating look. The look dissipated immediately. Joshua smiled immediately. 

"It still needs editing," Josh said. Both were ignoring what just happened. Joshua sat up beside Oliver, putting his arms on the back of the couch. "But it's good enough for a draft."

Oliver smiled.

"I like it so far. It's very you. I'm adoring the scenario you set, the whole descriptions and everything. You're truly talented, Joshua."

"Thank you," Josh nodded. "I appreciate it. Really."

"Of course," Oliver said before going back to reading. Joshua turned the television on, keeping the volume low enough so he could hear but it wouldn't bother Oliver.

Josh wasn't exactly comfortable at this point. He wasn't uncomfortable either. He just was there. He still had to decide if he liked that or not.

At least fifteen minutes passed before Oliver hummed, making Joshua's attention shift to him.

"I loved it! I'm wondering what happens on the part you stopped, though."

Joshua stopped for a little, trying to remember where he stopped. 

"Oh yeah," Josh cleared his throat. "I'm unsure of what I'm going to make happen there. It'll be gruesome, of course, but... I don't know how."

"Really? I mean... I'm pretty sure that Oscar's got a chainsaw. I think I see where this is going," Oliver chuckled. Josh grinned.

"No, yes. But I don't know how. And I don't know if I'll make Julian join him and just. You know, recreate their steps or... Well, there are thousands of paths to take."

Oliver hummed, seeming thoughtful.

"I think it would make more sense if they went together. I mean, they've come so far from what I've seen in this chapter."

Joshua nodded. "You're right. But... I can't picture the way things will end," Josh sighed with a frown. "Y'know. What they'll make. If they'll just. Go for the neck and make things quickly or if they'll go on and drag things out."

Oliver bit his lip. He shut the laptop, clearing his throat.

"Here's the deal," Oliver said. "Take a break and see if you can discover a scenario and if you can't, I'll help you with it tomorrow."

"Well, you don't have to. I'll just think about it for a while before it comes to me and I'll write it down-"

"But I can help you out," Oliver said with a tight-lipped smile. Joshua blinked. He stared at him. Oliver was tense. Joshua frowned internally. Why did he want to help so much?

"There's no need for you to stress about this, really. Don't worry," Josh offered a comforting smile. Oliver's smile lessened. He sighed but accepted.

"Well, okay. I just thought it would be fun to create the right scenario with you."

"You can always do that, though," Josh said. "You don't need the author to tell you where every single thing should be if you don't want to. Make your own scenario. I find it more pleasing this way."

Oliver stopped, thought about this. Joshua watched with interest as Oliver just. drifted off. For a second, he wasn't there but so far away, so out of reach. Josh had to blink twice at the sudden gleam Oliver earned.

"You're absolutely right," Oliver whispered. "It's far more entertaining to make my scenarios instead, isn't it? Plan it all out to the smallest droplet. I can plan everything and still get the satisfaction to see things going right. Everything... I can make it all perfect."

Joshua watched him curiously. Oliver looked at him with the brightest eyes.

"You're a genius."

Josh blinked. He smiled.

"Thank you?"

Oliver stood up abruptly. "I gotta go. I need... I need to plot."

"Me too," Josh said. He stood up as well, walked Oliver to the door. This time he didn't impatiently drum his fingers on the door, he just grinned. Oliver still had that twinkle on his stare. He smiled genuinely, which made Josh tilt his head.

Oliver didn't leave yet, though, he just stood there, staring at Josh with these joy-filled eyes. Josh didn't know what he was supposed to do, especially not when Oliver grasped the hand that dangled on his side. Oliver held it and placed his other hand atop theirs, leaning in slightly.

"Go on a date with me."

Joshua blinked.

And then again. And again. Josh tilted his head. Speechless.

"Oh?" Josh quirked his eyebrows, lips parting. Oliver didn't seem bothered by the stretch of the silence, he saw that Joshua was truly flabbergasted. "Okay?"

Oliver's smile widened.

"Yes!" He whispered to himself. "Good, good," Oliver said, letting go of Josh's hand. "Well," Oliver cleared his throat. "Okay. We'll set a date later, yeah? But I gotta go," Oliver said before giving Josh's cheek a quick kiss, out of nowhere. Once Oliver had stepped away he looked confused, too. He did that impulsively. His eyebrows twitched but he didn't seem bothered. He smiled and waved at Josh before he got on his car and drove away a little too overjoyed. Josh stood at the door for a long time before he closed it slowly, blinking at his door confusedly.

Firstly, what did he just agreed to? A date? Josh doesn't like to date. Secondly, what was that with the flowers? Joshua knew that no flower shop wasn't at least 2 kilometres far from his house. And thirdly but no less important,

How did Oliver know where he lived?


End file.
